4-23-09_Site Specific Downtown Pittsburgh

4-23-09
Site Specific Downtown Pittsburgh
Dance Choreography by: Pearlann Porter
Music by: David JM Bielewicz
Photography by: Aaron Jackendoff

Pearlann is working on a series called "The Urban Experiment":

The Pillow Project’s Urban Experiment is dance that exists without any walls between the observer and artist. Choreographic and improvisational elements based on informal, pedestrian movements make a practical statement that the subtle art of dance can be blended into every-day situations and environments. Urban Experiment challenges the conventional way of looking at dance by seamlessly integrating the dancer into common, familiar and approachable surroundings while preserving the natural integrity of the moment for spontaneous and fortuitous audiences. The Pillow Project’s Urban Experiment will tour a wide range of Pittsburgh city streets, high-traffic commercial areas, outdoor cafes, public transit, local establishments and happenings starting Summer 2009.

--www.pillowproject.org

Pearlann was working with some of these ideas with her class. So I came along to photograph.

We had planned this one a few days in advance. Then I was thinking about it and was thinking about my friend Dave's music, and Bam! it came together. I called Pearlann up and Dave was free the next day.

Dave has been known to play just walking around or in the skywalk or any number of random places, as I've been know to do with my camera or watercolours. So when his previous class ran late and overlapped this class, so he came late. He strolled into the concrete park downtown playing his guitar, I found it quite hilarious because no one knew where he came from or why he was there for a while. I found out later, some people that knew him really thought he was just walking around the streets of downtown playing, which he would probably do.

Anyhow, we moved from the concrete park to the streets of downtown, 30 or so dancers a guitar player and photographer. It was quite fun. Then all the dancers got on a PORT Authority bus, Dave and I decided not to get on, but instead and run along side for a block or so. So I'm shooting photos, Dave is strumming while singing and we're sprinting alongside a bus downtown while 30 or so dancers are improving inside the bus.

So here are some photos and an original song by David JM Bielewicz called "I'm not there"

(please be warned I am not recording artist, I just used a small mp3 player to record the sound, I tried to even out some of the pops using Adobe Soundbooth, but I am a rank amateur. This however may be another project I might get into more at some point, because it was fun...)

4-23-09_Doug Bentz_Modern Dance_GRW2

4-23-09_Doug Bentz_Modern Dance_GRW2

This class was mostly made up of seniors. And this was their last class with Doug Bentz while enrolled at Point Park, so this class became quite emotional. Charles Hall got a break from playing for a little while while the class picked some significant songs to warm up to. One of them was Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Judy Garland. I thought that would be a good song to show these photos with.

4-23-09_Jason McDole_Contemporary Dance_708

4-23-09_Jason McDole_Contemporary Dance_708

Once the dancers get into the groove in Jason's class, they just seem to perk up and have a grand old time dancing.

4-22-09_Ernie Tolentino_Ballet_201

4-22-09_Ernie Tolentino_Ballet_201

I always seem to see so many lines in Ernie's class.

4-22-09_Pearlann Porter_Dance_SiteSpecific

4-22-09_Pearlann Porter_Dance_Site Specific

These were a few of the finals from Pealann's dance class. They had to perform short pieces in small groups outside of the normal studio or performance space, in Downtown Pittsburgh.

The first one was on different levels of a Parking garage.

The second was in Strawberry Way. Will and Ryan performed this one. At first we all thought that Ryan was going to perform on his own because Will was absent, but it turned out that Will was posing as a homeless man in the ally way, which we all found out once Ryan started kicking the sleeping bag, and Will jumped out and continued in the dance.
Then as you can read here: http://www.downtownpittsburgh.com/about-pdp/pdp-services-and-initiatives/strawberry-way
Strawberry Way has built in music - Vivaldi's - The Four Seasons, plays in the background which is altered by the weather in this unique instillation.

The third piece was done in the sky walk connecting Macy's with it's parking lot.

And then there was a guy that I thought was interesting on the way back to Point Park University.

4-20-09_Kassandra Taylor_Dance Studios

4-20-09_Kassandra Taylor_Dance Studios

We both had some free time in the middle of the day = photo-shoot.

Kassandra Taylor can be reached at http://www.KassandraTaylor.com